East Coast In The Great Gatsby

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Failure of the East In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the East Coast is portrayed as a place of wealth, status, and success by the narrator, Nick Carraway. Following the example of many others before him, Nick moves East and pursues the bond business in an attempt to find the luxury and success that the East Coast so vividly exudes. Instead he finds Gatsby, a man who seems to have everything that Nick desires, including wealth and a strong love for a woman named Daisy. To Nick, Gatsby represented all that the East could offer, but in the end he also represented the sobering truth that the East had a sinister side. Gatsby, characterizing Nick’s desires, inevitably ruined Nick’s image of a happy life on the East Coast with his …show more content…
When Nick befriends Gatsby he learns of this love and how genuinely authentic it is. Gatsby has waited five years, acquired wealth, and bought a mansion across the bay from Daisy in order to try and win her heart. This passion and love is another quality that Nick admires about Gatsby. Nick is a romantic, and he wants love and a relationship. “I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove” (56). This quote illustrates Nick’s yearning for romance, and his fleeting fantasies of meeting the perfect girl. At times he even appears to be jealous of Gatsby for having such a strong romance. Nick is lonely and he does not have a girl to chase, so he admires the fact that a large portion of Gatsby’s life has been dedicated to getting the woman he loves. Because of his money Nick has already associated Gatsby to the East, so when he sees Gatsby in a romantic relationship he establishes a connection between the East and love. Gatsby has two very important elements of life that Nick wants, and he got them by going East. Gatsby made his money on the East Coast and he was able to win over his woman for a short period of time by following her to the East Coast. The East showcased promise and opportunity to Nick, until the man that seemingly had it all …show more content…
Gatsby ended up losing his woman and the structure of his business all while floating dead in his pool. Initially Gatsby seemed to have everything that Nick wanted, but in the end he was a failure. Going East Gatsby was able to acquire wealth and love for a short period of time, but it did not last. A product of the East, Gatsby showed Nick that one could not have everything they wanted. After witnessing Gatsby’s fall from greatness Nick says, “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eye’s power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home” (176). Nick saw Gatsby as having all the things he wanted because of the East, so when he saw it all stripped away from Gatsby it ruined the image of the East
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